Gunsmithing Library

Brownell's Encyclopedia of Modern Firearms Parts and Assembly is good.
It has military TMs covering not only USGI but commercial guns used by the Army including Model 12 Winchester.
It has owners manuals and company gunsmith manuals for major brands.
It includes parts diagrams and specs on guns in production at the time.
It has charts of pin, screw, and spring sizes for most of the covered guns.
Its only drawback is that it is "Volume 1" up to 1959 and there is no "Volume 2" for later models.

Brownells also has LeeRoy Wisner's Handbook of Hard-to-Find Gun Parts Drawings.
Kind of specialized, kind of expensive, but the copy owned by my neighbor the gunsmith was a major help on one old revolver.
 
Specialized Gunsmithing Techniques of William J.Nittler

Hi All:
My Uncle William Nittler was a stock shot gun bending expert. I was wondering if anyone of you happen have a old copy of his works and this book/cd "Specialized Gunsmithing Techniques of William J.Nittler"
I be willing to pay $100.00 plus the shipping charge.
If any information found write back to me ace726rail@yahoo.com.

TY BF
 
You need to determine what type of work you want to do...so that you can make machinery decisions accordingly.

For much work, a "bench top" mill is adequate, but you're limited to light cuts (not a big deal when you're not working by the hour), but there will be times when a full size table knee-mill is needed.

Lathe...absolutely. You need a 1-1/2" spindle bore if you intend to do barrel work through the headstock, or 36"-40" between centers if doing barrels that way. Ideally, both to leave your options open. Many larger lathes have spindles too long for barrel work without workarounds, so headstock length needs to be considered as well as spindle bore diameter.

Gunsmiths are mostly machinists that tailor their skills to firearms.
JMO, but I'd get a copy of "How to Run a Lathe"- and other information on machining before I concerned myself about the firearms end of it.

Guffey referenced a great book above- and for those of us that do barrel work between centers is a great reference and an absolute must have. I'll add a couple of my personal favorites, " The Gunsmith Machinist ", and the second one by the same name " Book Two", by Steve Acker.
 
When i was a young man we had gunsmiths on every block in town. It was the retired Machinist that spent years working in a machine shop . Now retired they made money fixing guns making parts and selling guns . I could have a part made in short time for little money .
 
Thread is old, but still highly relevant.

I've developed a disliking for GunDigest series of disassembly. Pictures are horrible and never show how to reinstall the difficult parts.

A highly relevant magazine is The American Gunsmith. Sometimes because of editorial space, a lot of stuff gets cut out of articles though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top